Category: 1956 Arab-Israeli War

Egypt, Syria and Jordan were planning a joint war on Israeli. However, events took a different turn as Israel secretly planned simultaneous operations with the British and French, the latter two to open the Suez Canal (closed by Egypt), and the former to attack Sinai. The 1956 War is also known as the Sinai Campaign, Operation Kadesh (after the IDF codename), and the 100 hours war (the length of time it took the Israeli’s to win). Operation Kadesh was wholly fought between Israel and Egypt. The entire campaign lasted 100 hours from when Israel invaded Egyptian held Sinai on 29 Oct 1956 until 1 Nov when the IDF forces had stopped 10 miles short of the Suez Canal (as agreed with the British and French). The war officially ended on 7 Nov when the UN imposed a ceasefire.

Here is a list of possible wargaming scenarios for the 1956 Arab-Israeli War. I haven’t fully developed them, these are just my notes until I can get back to them. My interest is in company level infantry actions and this affects the kind of actions I’m interested in.

During the 1956 Arab-Israeli War the Egyptian army might have been big and well equipped but it was a bit of a mess. The Egyptian troops were poorly trained and led, and had little incentive to fight. Motivation was low as the Egyptians used conscription but didn’t pay any allowances to the family if a soldier was killed or incapacitated. Possibly worse still the predominantly upper class Egyptian Officers considered it beneath them to train their men. Finally communication between the field and HQ was poor. Field commanders invented successes and/or exaggerated enemy numbers, and then ignored orders from above

Up to and including the 1956 Arab-Israeli War the IDF was a predominantly infantry based organisation. Israel’s armour focus only came after the Moshe Dayan (IDF Chief-of-Staff) saw how effective armour operations could be during Operation Kadesh. The plan for the Sinai Campaign was to have the armour in infantry support roles; as it turned out they did some nifty blitzkrieg type attacks.

Called variously the 1956 War, the Sinai Campaign, Operation Kadesh (after the IDF codename), and the 100 hours war (the length of time it took the Israeli’s to win).

Egypt, Syria and Jordan were planning a joint war on Israeli, however, events took a different turn. Egypt had nationalised the Suez Canal – thus offending the British and French – and subsequently closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, hence blocking Israeli access to the Red Sea. On top of this growing attacks by Egyptian infiltrators forced the Israeli’s to take preemptive steps. Israel secretly planned simultaneous operations